Legal Rights to claim

[julian78]

I just want to understand something about the legal rights of people whose photos were taken and I was hoping if any of the bro here can help me.

In commissioned shots where models were hired, the image rights belong to the commissioner of the photos. However, for commissioned shots of people of the general public (or group of people) who were not hire as models, do they have image rights to the photo taken if those shots were used for commercial purposes.

[catchlights]

in Sg.

people in the photos does not own the photos.

people who pay money to the photographer for taking photos on anything, own the photos.

photographers take photos at self assignment, own the photos.

So, in layman words.......
a girl walk on the street, I took a photo of her, I own the photo of her.

the girl's mother pay me money to take photos of the girl, the girl's mother own the photos.

commercial use or not, is another issue.

[julian78]

Thanks Catchlight for the quick reply. My concern is specifically photos meant for commercial usage. Can a person whose photo had been taken legally claim against the business if the photos were used for commercial purposes.

[Fallenphoenix]

That's what model release form is for~ is a must for microstock, stock and national geo. I guess the answer is pretty obvious. Not to mention property release~

-Note- only applies to commercial purposes and not editorial (if i'm not wrong, I've no experience with editorial - correct me if i'm wrong)

[catchlights]

AFAIK, appear in the photo does not make ones the legal owner of the photos.

since it is a for commercial usage, aka someone is paying someone, why don't just pay money to consult a lawyer specialize in this area? don't your client have their interest need to protect??


btw, you miss out the "s" in my nick, that nick is belong to another person.